Now and then I wonder how I got from there to here, there being where I started in life and here being, well, here, and I got to thinking about Bobby Gene Tyus. It all started when we were in the first grade.We probably called him Bobby Gene in those days because it's Texas, after all, but he's Bob now and has been for a long, long time. We started first grade together and became fast friends. When we were in second grade, he moved away. I didn't forget him, though, and when he moved back when we were in the eighth grade, we were instant friends again. And that's when the first life-changing event happened.In eighth grade I'd fallen in with a kind of smart-aleck crowd, the kind that sits on the back row of the class and makes clever remarks and annoys the teachers no end. In those days we got grades for "Attitude" and "Conduct." Let's just say that I wasn't doing well at all in those areas.It took Bob about two days to figure this out. He took me aside and told me that I was acting like an idiot. I knew he was right, but I didn't know what to do about it. He did. He told me that I wasn't the person I was pretending to be and that he wanted me to move to the front row and sit by him. So I did. All my grades improved, and I felt a lot better about myself. Lesson learned.I learned a lot of other lessons from Bob, too, but here's the one I want to mention. It happened when we were juniors, probably the spring of 1958. We were talking about English class, and Bob mentioned that he couldn't remember the author of a story we'd read. I told him the name. "That was quick," he said. "I know who wrote everything in the book," I told him.I didn't think anything of it. Maybe I thought everybody knew who wrote everything in the book. Not everything had been assigned, of course, but I'd read everything anyway. Didn't everybody?Apparently not. Bob got out his English book and started going through the table of contents, skipping around, asking me who wrote this or that. Now and then he'd switch off and give me the author's name and ask what he or she'd written. I always got it right. Bob was amazed.I have to say this about Bob. He was a guy who was a math whiz. Give him a problem, and he could solve it for x, y, and z while I was still agonizing over where the equal sign went. He could explain the binomial theorem if you asked him. I thought that was a special talent. Bob pointed out that I had a talent, too, although it had never occurred to me. It might've been that day that I decided on my college major.Bob and I went on to The University of Texas at Austin, where we remained friends. He majored in math. I majored in English. He taught math in community college in California and Washington. I taught English in Texas. We're still in touch. He's still my friend. And it all started in first grade.I'm still not sure how I got from there to here, but I know it would've been a different journey if it hadn't been for Bobby Gene.

OPERA NEWS: ROBERTA PETERS'S overnight ascent to Met stardom at twenty combined with her uncommonly attractive face and form to suggest a sort of fairy-tale figure. But Peters’s early years were spent absorbed in arduous study, devoid of many of the diversions taken for granted by the average teenager. Although in later life the soprano spoke about tears shed under the pressure of trying to live up to the expectations of those who believed in her, she maintained that young people should be urged to fulfill their potential. It was, in fact, this seriousness of purpose and artistic integrity that carried Peters through a five-decade career in which she racked up 512 Met performances of twenty-four roles during thirty-four seasons. Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Roll Models: Something everyone thinks about as they get close to retiring is “What am I going to do with all that free time?” Some people move to the country, others travel the world. Still others make a difference right where they are.

Well, not every FFB can be a winner. I picked this one up to read because of my affection for the Carleton Carpenter duet on "Aba Daba Honeymoon" in the movie Two Weeks with Love. I've had this and several other mystery novels by Carpenter on my shelves for many years, but I'd never looked inside them. It's just as well. Check out the description on the cover: "Death was a superstar in a Broadway horror show. A novel of shattering suspense!" I beg to differ.The only suspense here is when someone will finally murder the execrable "producer" who's trying to mount a Broadway show. And after the murder, amateur sleuth and Hairdresser to the Stars Chester Long does precious little sleuthing. Like almost none. This is one of those novels in which the crime is solved in the in with a big coincidence and everything gets blurted out. As an aside, the cover doesn't represent anything in the book. The producer's strangled (and maybe ODs), but he's not shot.That being said, the writing is breezy throughout, and there's plenty of backstage stuff about mounting a show, the kind of thing that makes for appealing reading. I'm glad I read it, but I won't be picking up any more Carpenter books to read, I'm afraid.

Thursday, January 19, 2017

'NCIS: LA' actor Miguel Ferrer dies at 61: Miguel Ferrer, the actor known best for television roles on NCIS: Los Angeles and Crossing Jordan, has passed away from cancer at the age of 61, per Associated Press. Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson and to Deb.

The latest entry in the Blaze! adult western series is set in Utah, where J.D. and Kate Blaze (two of the deadliest gunfighters the Old West has ever seen) are hunting a couple of train robbers for the bounty. They trail them to a town named Small Basin, and that's where the troubles really begin.The town has a corrupt sheriff, who's also one of the train robbers, and it's under the control of a renegade Mormon patriarch who has a yen for young wives. He already has twenty wives, but they keep getting older. When he kidnaps a young girl from town, J.D. and Kate decide to help out, with the aid of an interesting priest who knows a lot about cussing and shooting. They have a plan, but of course things get complicated. J.D. takes a whale of a beating, and there are several surprises along the way. The book has some of my favorite things in it, a secret way into a hidden valley and a cave. No quicksand, though.This is a fine debut for Ben Boulden, with sharp action and well-observed descriptions. I expect his name will become much more familiar to readers as he extends his writing career.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

The Communion of Saints (John Ray / LS9 crime thrillers Book 3) - Kindle edition by John Barlow. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. Following the violent murder of his father, John Ray is getting his life back on track, and putting the criminal past of his family behind him. But when Shirley Kirk of the West Yorkshire Police asks him for a favour, he’s sucked into a mystery that is as confusing as it is devastating.Allegations of historical abuse have emerged at a Catholic Boys’ Home in the city. They involve a prominent businessman who is keen to get to the bottom of who is making the accusations. And he wants John Ray to do the looking. Discreetly.John soon begins to uncover a more complex mystery involving blackmail, kidnap and murder. But why are the police really asking for his help? There are people on the Force still out to get John Ray for his past misdemeanours. And they are not the only ones who know about his family's past.A novel set in Leeds, THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS is novel about innocence, vengeance, and the power of good and evil. It is the third crime thriller in the John Ray / LS9 series.

Sad to think that I've neglected to read John Flagg all these years. Stark House has been publishing some new editions of his Gold Medal novels, though, and I've been catching up. The latest from Stark House is a sort of Triple-Decker, two novels and a short story, with an introduction by none other than James Reasoner.I chose to read Death and the Naked Lady not just because of the title but because of the intriguing setting. The entire book is set on an ocean liner traveling from France to the U.S. in 1950. Aboard is Mac McLean, a nightclub singer who's suddenly had a big success in France and is now set up for his debut in New York. Also on board are spies, counterspies, crossers, doublecrossers, and killers. Not to mention a MacGuffin, a case of jade pieces. And of course the famous Naked Lady. McLean finds himself involved with all of these, and he also learns that maybe his sudden career boost hasn't come about solely because of his own efforts and talent. The setting of the ocean voyage (no place to run, no escaping the villains) adds a lot to the interest of the book, and the complex plotting kept me guessing. It's no wonder that Flagg was the first author to published by Gold Medal, and it's great to have these books back in print.

After reading Scaramouche, nothing would do but that I see the movie again. As I mentioned in my comments on the book, I loved the movie when I was a kid, and no wonder. It had one of my favorite actors, Stewart Granger, a beautiful redhead, Eleanor Parker, a beautiful blonde, Janet Leigh, a villainous villain (Mel Ferrer), and one of the great movie sword fights of all time. In fact, it was at one time the longest of all movie sword fights. Maybe it still is. Plus it's in glorious Technicolor. You have to see it to realize how great it looks, that's all there is to it. And there's a great score.What's even better, the screenwriters took Elmore Leonard's famous advice years before he gave it and left out all the parts of the book that readers tend to skip. Then they added almost nonstop action, a ton of witty banter, and tightened the plot to fit into two hours. Scaramouche, the movie, is a lot faster and more fun than the book (and I say that having enjoyed the book). If you like old Hollywood glamour, this movie has just about everything you could ask for. I loved it when I was a kid, and I love it now. You want entertainment? That's what Scaramouche provides, and plenty of it. You cannot go wrong. Check out the trailer embedded below if you don't believe me. That should convince anybody.

I've had the Gold Medal edition of Angel's Flight on my shelves for probably 50 years and never read it. Laziness, I guess, and it's too bad I didn't get to it earlier because it's really good. Now Black Gat books has reprinted it in a fine new paperback edition, and everybody has a chance to find out just how good it is. You don't have to take my word for it. If you read Gary Lovisi's enthusiastic introduction, you won't be able to resist.Angel's Flight is a decades-spanning novel, ranging from the late 1930s to the late 1950s, from the era of small jazz bands to the time of payola and industry-wide corruption in the recording business. It's mainly about Ben Parker, a mostly honest guy, who begins his career in one of those small jazz bands and winds up owning his own record company and in trouble with the Mob, and in particular with a guy who calls himself Johnny Angel, who's the opposite of Parker, and certainly the opposite of an Angel (as is made all too obvious in what I thought was the book's only real flaw).There's a lot to like here: sweeping storytelling that never forgets the personal, music history that seems real and accurate, characters who meet and part and meet again, colorful writing -- great stuff, and highly recommended.